China's cabinet warns of rural land expropriation

Rural stability and the security of the grain supply face a number of challenges due to excessive land expropriation in China's urbanization, the State Council has warned.

The council demanded more reforms and a better legal system to solve the problem, and it vowed tighter regulation of farmland expropriation.

After a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, a statement was issued, stating: "Too much rural land has been expropriated too quickly as industrialization and urbanization accelerate. That not only affects stability in the countryside but also threatens grain security."

The meeting passed a draft law amendment revising rules on how to compensate farmers whose collectively owned land is expropriated, the statement said.

The draft amendment, passed on Wednesday, will be submitted for deliberation to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, according to the statement.

The State Council also urged giving more priority to the countryside in the government's efforts to boost investment and consumption to bolster a slowing economy.

The government must make efforts to beef up support for farmers and place rural development in a more important position, it said.

Protests by farmers over land seizures have erupted in villages across the country in recent years, prompting calls for better protection of farmers' property rights to the land they have contracted.

In a keynote report to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month, President Hu Jintao pressed for reform of the land expropriation system and increase of farmers' share of gains in land value.